What do you think?
Rate this book
Organize Yourself!
The proven way to get organized once and for allThis is the highly anticipated new edition of a very successful organizing book that has sold over half a million copies to date, now updated with the latest on e-mail, PDAs, and other contemporary organizing topics and tools. Organize Yourself! provides readers with essential rules for better time, money, space, and paper management. It also addresses major events, from preparing for a move to planning a party or vacation. It reveals a professional organizer's proven techniques for streamlining daily life and provides fast, effective relief for common clutter and help with overcoming procrastination and every other organizational ailment.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
61 people are currently reading
671 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 22, 2020
3.5 stars
My biggest criticism of this book: it's written for an organized person.
What I mean by that is it's not written for the average, disorganized or chaotic people--it's written for people who already have some motivation and ability to get their life organized. Some of the suggestions are so detailed, specific and idealistic that the average person will not have time, motivation or long-term commitment to follow them. While some suggestions can be taken by anyone at any level of organization, a lot of them are not designed for people who really struggle with organization in the first place. As the author is a self-proclaimed very-organized-person (she even tells a cute story about her first organization realizations when she was a kid), she shows her expertise throughout the book, but she does it from an organized person's perspective--not thinking about how someone who's at a level much below hers would be functioning. As she's grown up organized and basically says she's been organized her whole life, her tips are good, but on the other hand she doesn't really understand the disorganized person's dilemma.
If you want to be super, ultra, extremely organized, way beyond the normal level and the level you'll find in other organizing books, this book WILL be good for you. But in order to become that organized, you've got to have a LOT of time, motivation and money--and if you are lacking one of those, you will have a very difficult time becoming organized. This book expects you to have all three. And it expects you to be extremely detail-oriented and to take lots of your time on small tasks, which, yes, will make you more organized - but add up to take a lot of your time and energy, which most people don't have much to spare.
An example of what I'm talking about:
"if you don't know why phone calls are taking up so much of your time, fill out this sheet:" (17)
-Time
-Person
-Originator
-Precall Activity
-Subject
-Length
>>>> Now, there's nothing wrong with a call log, that's actually a good idea if you find phone calls are taking up a decent amount of your time. But, why the need for all those details - is the "precall activity" or "subject" or "time" really necessary? Just write down who called you, for how long, and about what. Patterns will quickly emerge. For the average person, that's good enough.
As well, I'm sure another common complaint is that this book offers many, many suggestions that require money - hiring a cleaning person, babysitters, personal shopper, etc. Those aren't the best examples, but she will often recommend hiring someone to do work for you. There's nothing wrong with this, but again it does not take into account people who cannot afford that--or who don't have lots of time to do the work themselves.
My third complaint is that the book is incredibly outdated. There were entire sections I'd skim through or skip because they were from the 1990s. This book was for a time when paper dominated record keeping, email was like a new thing, PDAs were a thing, mail and letters were big things, using computers wasn't a natural skill, the Internet was pretty new, etc. While some of the tips still hold, a bunch of them are now irrelevant and the book could be updated.
The standout sections were at the end -- all the ones to do with kids. The author has rounded up a collection of great, thoughtful, creative and sometimes unique ideas in this area. I would pick up the book just for those chapters (even if you ignore everything else).
One of the best strengths of this book was the fact that it was so encompassing--almost any area you could think of in your life that could be organized, was in here. From procrastination, personal time, calendars, home organization, schedules, chores, kids, errands/shopping/etc. the author did a fantastic job of creating a well-rounded book.
Because I don't travel often, and when I do travel I already have a pretty good & simple system for myself (make a list of all the things to take, based on past lists, and pack), I skipped most of the sections on travelling, although I did read part of the section on traveling with kids (just for fun) and it was good!
I understand the principle, but I disagree with her idea that you should NEVER have a junk drawer. If you mean a 'drawer you throw junk in without any regard', I agree. But if you mean a drawer with various items--such as scissors, tape, keys, vitamins, batteries, matches, rubber bands, and other little bits & pieces of things that need to be stored somewhere but don't have another home--then yes, I disagree. If you organize the drawer properly once, you should be able to keep it neat and organized. Using tiny boxes/small organizers especially helps.
The author has good tips on organizing expectations of a spouse or someone you live with. Also love the encouragement of colour-coding. 👍
Overall, I'm conflicted if I would fully recommend this book to others. Some parts of it are great, but the others are sometimes overly-detailed, outdated, expecting people to prioritize organization above all other chores/tasks/life demands. Almost no one will find all the sections relevant, so you can skip whatever you're not interested in. However, if there is a certain area you are interested in, you might find a few gems in here, so for that reason I would say: pick it up, skip what you don't need, and just read the parts you do. The good news is that there's both a table of contents and index at the back for easy finding.
My biggest criticism of this book: it's written for an organized person.
What I mean by that is it's not written for the average, disorganized or chaotic people--it's written for people who already have some motivation and ability to get their life organized. Some of the suggestions are so detailed, specific and idealistic that the average person will not have time, motivation or long-term commitment to follow them. While some suggestions can be taken by anyone at any level of organization, a lot of them are not designed for people who really struggle with organization in the first place. As the author is a self-proclaimed very-organized-person (she even tells a cute story about her first organization realizations when she was a kid), she shows her expertise throughout the book, but she does it from an organized person's perspective--not thinking about how someone who's at a level much below hers would be functioning. As she's grown up organized and basically says she's been organized her whole life, her tips are good, but on the other hand she doesn't really understand the disorganized person's dilemma.
If you want to be super, ultra, extremely organized, way beyond the normal level and the level you'll find in other organizing books, this book WILL be good for you. But in order to become that organized, you've got to have a LOT of time, motivation and money--and if you are lacking one of those, you will have a very difficult time becoming organized. This book expects you to have all three. And it expects you to be extremely detail-oriented and to take lots of your time on small tasks, which, yes, will make you more organized - but add up to take a lot of your time and energy, which most people don't have much to spare.
An example of what I'm talking about:
"if you don't know why phone calls are taking up so much of your time, fill out this sheet:" (17)
-Time
-Person
-Originator
-Precall Activity
-Subject
-Length
>>>> Now, there's nothing wrong with a call log, that's actually a good idea if you find phone calls are taking up a decent amount of your time. But, why the need for all those details - is the "precall activity" or "subject" or "time" really necessary? Just write down who called you, for how long, and about what. Patterns will quickly emerge. For the average person, that's good enough.
As well, I'm sure another common complaint is that this book offers many, many suggestions that require money - hiring a cleaning person, babysitters, personal shopper, etc. Those aren't the best examples, but she will often recommend hiring someone to do work for you. There's nothing wrong with this, but again it does not take into account people who cannot afford that--or who don't have lots of time to do the work themselves.
My third complaint is that the book is incredibly outdated. There were entire sections I'd skim through or skip because they were from the 1990s. This book was for a time when paper dominated record keeping, email was like a new thing, PDAs were a thing, mail and letters were big things, using computers wasn't a natural skill, the Internet was pretty new, etc. While some of the tips still hold, a bunch of them are now irrelevant and the book could be updated.
The standout sections were at the end -- all the ones to do with kids. The author has rounded up a collection of great, thoughtful, creative and sometimes unique ideas in this area. I would pick up the book just for those chapters (even if you ignore everything else).
One of the best strengths of this book was the fact that it was so encompassing--almost any area you could think of in your life that could be organized, was in here. From procrastination, personal time, calendars, home organization, schedules, chores, kids, errands/shopping/etc. the author did a fantastic job of creating a well-rounded book.
Because I don't travel often, and when I do travel I already have a pretty good & simple system for myself (make a list of all the things to take, based on past lists, and pack), I skipped most of the sections on travelling, although I did read part of the section on traveling with kids (just for fun) and it was good!
I understand the principle, but I disagree with her idea that you should NEVER have a junk drawer. If you mean a 'drawer you throw junk in without any regard', I agree. But if you mean a drawer with various items--such as scissors, tape, keys, vitamins, batteries, matches, rubber bands, and other little bits & pieces of things that need to be stored somewhere but don't have another home--then yes, I disagree. If you organize the drawer properly once, you should be able to keep it neat and organized. Using tiny boxes/small organizers especially helps.
The author has good tips on organizing expectations of a spouse or someone you live with. Also love the encouragement of colour-coding. 👍
Overall, I'm conflicted if I would fully recommend this book to others. Some parts of it are great, but the others are sometimes overly-detailed, outdated, expecting people to prioritize organization above all other chores/tasks/life demands. Almost no one will find all the sections relevant, so you can skip whatever you're not interested in. However, if there is a certain area you are interested in, you might find a few gems in here, so for that reason I would say: pick it up, skip what you don't need, and just read the parts you do. The good news is that there's both a table of contents and index at the back for easy finding.
June 27, 2010
This is basically a book of to-do-lists from someone who has thought about everything - shopping lists, pregnancy lists, moving, entertaining. The chapters are short and great to have on hand if you aren't born organized. And if you are, it might be fun to see her lists :) Her time management chapters are excellent.
June 14, 2019
Very dated. I knew parts would be but honestly felt it through the entire thing. No new info except timing phone calls for time management. Old stuff that a couple basic youtube videos can convey faster.
January 10, 2021
This book, originally written in 1986, was revised in 1997. So it's a bit outdated! But I read it because author Ronni Eisenberg will be speaking online at a library sponsored event. I am eager to hear what she has to say about organization in 2021.
January 22, 2024
Very out of date
January 7, 2012
I guess I find myself a little disappointed in this.
First of all, I guess I was looking for a hard and fast system for maintaining household files. Things like how long to keep bank statements, credit card bills (paid), old insurance policies, but I find this book falls into the same trap that so many organizational helpers do..be non-committal.
They probably have a reason to be non-committal. There probably is not a one-size-fits-all formula for keeping this stuff...but dammit, I want there to be.
Secondly, and this has been expressed in other reviews as well, for being a book from 2005 it did not hold up well. Many of the computer/electronic tips are no longer helpful, and another edition would be helpful.
Lastly, no amount of book reading is going to get you to that happy land. You just got to do it, and you need buy in by everyone else in the family. Obtaining that buy-in is hinted at in this book, but really there is no good suggestions. I was sort of looking for that as well.
So, all told, "Meh." It's fine. If you've read other books on the subject (and I count the very excellent "Getting things done" in this, as this book mimics a lot of that) then you can skip this. If this is the first book on the subject you are going to read, then you will likely get something from it.
First of all, I guess I was looking for a hard and fast system for maintaining household files. Things like how long to keep bank statements, credit card bills (paid), old insurance policies, but I find this book falls into the same trap that so many organizational helpers do..be non-committal.
They probably have a reason to be non-committal. There probably is not a one-size-fits-all formula for keeping this stuff...but dammit, I want there to be.
Secondly, and this has been expressed in other reviews as well, for being a book from 2005 it did not hold up well. Many of the computer/electronic tips are no longer helpful, and another edition would be helpful.
Lastly, no amount of book reading is going to get you to that happy land. You just got to do it, and you need buy in by everyone else in the family. Obtaining that buy-in is hinted at in this book, but really there is no good suggestions. I was sort of looking for that as well.
So, all told, "Meh." It's fine. If you've read other books on the subject (and I count the very excellent "Getting things done" in this, as this book mimics a lot of that) then you can skip this. If this is the first book on the subject you are going to read, then you will likely get something from it.
January 9, 2026
One of many how to organize yourself books. This one does NOT make you "declutter" everything you own, and I respect that. Everyone probably does need to get rid of some things they received as gifts or bought and now regret, but I love that these guys don't try to strip you naked in the process of getting ahold of yourself and your possessions. My low rating is just that I've read better books on the same subject, and this one is pretty windy.
October 23, 2012
Read it in a day; made me realize that I am more organized that I thought--even after making a major move and feeling totally unorganized! I'd recommend it especially for someone who's just moved or made a career or life-change (just had a baby, etc.) and needs to re-prioritize and get organized/find new systems in all facets of their lives.
May 29, 2013
I may be a huge nerd, but I enjoyed it greatly. This would pair very well with Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, which covers more the office and the "Where do I start?" side of organization.
February 14, 2015
Written twenty years ago so the high tech object is the answer machine and it describes post-it notes as they're brand new. A wonderful reminder of time not so long ago. Some of the ideas are still useful - don't make your kids clear out before a move as it'll stress them, while others are just out of date - you don't need to prepare your nipples for breastfeeding.
September 15, 2025
Ronni teaches by showing us ( can be in our own home if we live near Connecticut) or by lecturing. It this book Ronni shares her clients struggles, that are JUST LIKE MINE. But this could be your desk, or maybe your kitchen, or your closet, or ALL of these.
Ronni talks about work habits and indecision and OVERWHELM. Will reread chapter on establishing better work habits every day.
Ronni talks about work habits and indecision and OVERWHELM. Will reread chapter on establishing better work habits every day.
Currently reading
August 8, 2008This is the first book I'm reading for "Good Reads." I've just started it, so I'll let you know how I like it. In my new life as wife/mom/homemaker I find it has become necessary for me to become better organized--husband, 3 kids and 5 dogs--yikes!! I hope this book helps!!!
Read
May 11, 2010While this book has some great ideas, it is clearly showing its age despite the updated edition (2005). For example, it said I should make tape copies of CDs to play in the car, use a desktop checkbook to pay bills, and many other clearly outdated things.
February 5, 2013
This book could definitely use an update but I still found some great tips in it. Several of the chapters were completely useless to me because I do those things on the computer and this was the major update that could be made.
May 19, 2015
Generally lot of this type of stuff is freely available in various articles online. I did pay attention to the in case of emergency and medicine chest sections. Good to skim through to jump start your decluttering.
January 10, 2009
I found a lot of useful ideas in this book, and the book itself is pretty well-organized.
February 4, 2010
I got one good idea out of it. The rest of it was pretty common knowledge.
August 14, 2010
A very helpful book, but a little dated. I'm hopefully going to track down a more current version with more "up to date" technology.
August 11, 2010
lots of ideas, I've implemented some of them. this book did make me feel guilty about being unorganized, it inspired me to be more organized.
April 19, 2013
Nothing really new to me but would be a comprehensive list for someone who was not at all organized and needed help knowing where to start.
January 30, 2015
Very outdated but did have excellent ideas. It will help me with my daily life!!
August 16, 2015
This had good ideas in it, but nothing that I had not read before. A good, basic book on getting organized.
November 21, 2017
This is a very thorough organization book.
October 26, 2016
Some good suggestions, but an overall dull feel, outdated technology references, and a lot that didn't apply to me. It really could have used some humor, a la Wiley's Dummies books.
Currently reading
July 24, 2009Super-helpful, but so much information that it gets to be a bit overwhelming in large doses.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews